Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by Jredner:

3.9/5 rDev +20.7%look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Courtesy of SSBrennan. Body is black with a lasting, thumb thick head that is tan and creamy. Mild detergent, toasted grains and sweet malt. Mildly thin body, but not alarmingly so. Sweet molasses/cane sugar fore with milf roast notes, chocolate. Some sugar and cream notes, but no coffee. Finishes with a mild burnt bitterness. Not bad really.

Enjoyed with some curried vetkoek from the Biltong Bar in Rustenberg SA. A fine fine meal, and the best Biltong in South Africa. Pours a nice dark color with tan head. Nose is of some malt and copper. A slightly coppery taste as well, and a bit dry for a milk stout. Some roasted malt and a touch of vanilla, but very very watery for a milk stout. I can understand due to the hot climate. An ok brew, but nothing very special. a nice oasis in a sea of macro lagers.

When poured this beer is a deep brown, I hesitate to call it "Black" because Light still shows through it. The head shrinks quickly and is maybe a little insubstantial but is definitely a lot more long lived than many other beers. The smell is mild but definitely shows hints of the roasted/burnt coffeish aromas one would expect from the style. The first impression/suprise is the relatively thin mouthfeel and restrained taste, the bottle alleges "a touch of bitterness" which is about right. As it is a milk stout one would expect it to be a bit sweeter than average and this is definitely the case.

It is a pleasant drink, it hides its strength well, I think I would have rated it higher if it had not claimed to be a stout and instead had called itself a "dark ale" or some such. On the other hand, my main experience with Stouts has been with Irish-style "Dry Stouts" so I wouldn't be suprised if I am judging this beer with the wrong criteria.

Pour is black with a generous two finger light brown head, decent retention and lace. Worty sweetness on the nose, some lactose adding to it, balanced with some dry roastiness. Toasty and smooth malt character up front, lightly fruity, sweetness quite subdued, smoothing out the roast nicely until the finish, when it creeps up with a burnt taste. Carbonation is nice, moderate and seems natural, but body is quite light. Overall a decent drinking milk stout, not too sweet, not too roasty, pretty good.

I totally dig the bottle...props to my South African brah Onslow's mom for this one...

this brew pours up black with the most beautiful brown head ever! the nose is metallic malts. Now I love Metallica, but not in my beer please. I taste metallic malts, very bitter, not too much "Milk" or sweetness in this stout. medium bodied, high carbo. Not too great. Maybe if I lived in South Africa and this was all I had, it would be better. But I think I'm gonna just mosey on down to the store and pick me up a sixer of Left Hand Milk Stout and call it a day.

the rating has to be made in relative terms to the offerings of where its being drank. whenever it was being sold in tanzania, it was a no brainer. interesting thought - this and some generic bailey's and generic whiskey made our own personal Tanzanian car bombs! they were suprisingly good, i recommend mixing and matching at your personal pleasure. castle milk stout is a solid brew, nothing expectional but quite enjoyable

Presentation: 340ml brown glass bottle, with a neck, obverse and reverse label. The neck label says Goodness in every glass, Brewed to be rich and dark. The front label is dark blue, silver and cream colored. The words on the label remind me of old English brews long gone, as the term Milk Stout was outlawed many years ago in the UK/EU, because milk was not used in the production of the beer. Idiots!!

Appearance: Dark black turbid look that settles with a tan brown head that eventually breaks to reveal a collar head. The thin covering builds at the edges and leaves minimal lacing. Excellent inherent carbonation exhibits its rejuvenation character when the beer is tipped and swirled.

Nose: Dark roast malts with a strong bitter aspect.

Taste: Roast malts, mixed with a bitter dark chocolate hint. All entrained in a charismatic dark lager style beer that had a very bitter finish.

Mouthfeel: Creamy and smooth, this fools the mouth into thinking that the light mouthfeel is actually wholesome. Quite thin on interrogation.

Drinkability: Easily sent down the road to purgatory. I found the beer to be drinkable, even in respect of the fact that its a Big-Boy offering. I dont care too much about styles or rules, but this is not bad for a mass-produced beer.

Overall: OK, so its made by SAB; Son-Ass-Bitches of the World, but you know what, this is not a bad beer at all. I would drink it again for sure; I would love to try it on draft.

o - Credit to SAB for attempting something darker than their standard lagers, however this beer doesn't come off much better than their standard fare. It has an unnatural syrupy sweet flavor that is tolerable once but could be very unpleasant for a session. Unfortunately stouts are very rare in South Africa but if Guinness is available than this an easy pass.

What a refreshing change from the widely distributed beers you see everywhere in South Africa! Yes, it's an SAB product, but it's solid and such a relief when you're tired of drinking AML.

Appearance: interestingly, I had two cans of this in one sitting (and many bottles later), but each can was a different color. I'm not sure if this is marketing, or that one can was older than the other. Pours an opaque black, small tan head. Garnet highlights at the bottom of the glass and good lacing.

Smells roasty, with a hint of sweetness. Tastes pretty good, according to the label there's maize in here but I can't pick it up on my palate. Roast, a bit of lactose sweetness, and a hint of coffee at the finish.

Finishes well, mouthfeel is a little light for the style, appropriately mildly carbonated, though, which helps. Drinkable stuff, and a welcome alternative to the macro lagers that are much more widely available. It's a shame this one doesn't have a wider distribution.